>>>nearly every single on of you?!!?<<<

Well, not me. Yes, I do have the connected device switched off but, as you say, even when the computer is powered down there is still power on its ports. I do look very carefully at the firewire plug before connecting, really because I forget which way it goes in, no matter how often I do it -- obviously this is a good rather than a bad thing!

The argument is that the 6-pin connector is more robust. Very true. But it seems like it's not made for hot swapping, and the fact that it carries bus power seems to make it dangerous. Then again, USB also carries bus power.All the PCI add-on firewire cards that I've ever installed DO NOT carry any power on the 6 pin connector. The only way I can power these connector ports on the firewire cards is by physically plugging in the extra power supply connector from the power supply in the computer. Some cards this connection is internal & some it's external.

The same holds true for the PCMCIA Adaptec FireConnect "AFW1430". This has an actual mini-plug to accept powering the chain. You have to purchase the power adapter separately.

I haven't seen to many powered firewire cards unless you power it up.
USB & PS2 ports can be powered when the computers off, depends on the motherboard & jumper settings. My keyboard is always powered, to turn on the computer I just hit the spacebar.

So you know, if you have a firewire cable that is 6 pin on one end and 4 pin on the other end, there are only 4 conductors in that cable (2 grounds & 2 signals). At the 6 pin connector IF there is power from the firewire card (which I doubt), it cannot travel down the cable because the extra 2 pins in the 6 pin connector are NOT connected to anything.
A 6 pin to 4 pin firewire cable is not a firewire power cable. It cannot carry power.
So even if your firewire card does supply power, no problem, it stays at the firewire card because the 6/4 firewire cable cannot carry the power, it's simply not connected in the 6 pin connector.

I don't think that many of the newer interfaces have great of spike protection in case we do make a mistake. I would make sure the camcorder is always off when plugging in cables.

The FireWire port on my TRV900 is currently blown. I don't know if it's from Wife Swapping or not. Wait... I mean, Hot Swapping. In my case it's not worth the price to repair it.

I used to have a DSR11 that stayed connected via FireWire for my FCP rig & a DSR45 & DSR80 connected via SDI on my Avid rigs. I no longer have them but truly wish I did. I think they saved a lot of wear & tear on my camera(s).

I now use a super cheap miniDV (not DVCam) camera to capture my tapes at home... but at the studio they like to use the XL1's to capture. We've got 3 of them and I'm always concerned that the FireWire ports will blow out. I've always been under the impression that you can Hot Swap FireWire... glad to read this.

I'll be changing my habits.

Oh yeah... the video:
I thought it was pretty clever. As a guy that knows his pain & frustration... it was refreshing to see him 'laugh' at the situation as opposed to totally bashing them. I enjoyed the O's. I thought it added to the fun of the piece. To me, this was his artistic fun & expression... instead of cursing them at the end of each sentence, the way he would have loved to... he simply took on an air of sarcasm that I thought came across very well.

I killed a GL-2 a couple of years ago plugging a 6 to 4 pin cable into it. Fortunately Canon repaired it under warranty (the camera stopped operating at all). Since then I have been using a Canopus ADVC-100 for all my capturing. I plugged it in the computer with both off, and never unplug it. I use the front mounted 4 pin to connect to my cameras. I determined that this port is not a pass thru, but is active. My procedure is to turn off both the Canopus and the camera, connect them, then power them up. Even if the computer is on.

This has worked well for me the last couple of years.

Regards,
Jerry

DV Line Protector.

The PT-1FW is a line protector for FireWire signals. It is used in Plug and Play applications where constant plugging and unplugging of FireWire equipment can result in permanent damage to sensitive equipment due to ESD (electrostatic discharge).
* Passive - No power required.
* Input/Output - 2.
* ESD Protection - Incorporates Kramer’s Spark-Guard ProTM signal protection circuitry to help protect against ESD (electrostatic discharge) which can damage digital equipment.

Mike

Of course you know I wasn't saying that W and his buddies were responsible for anything, just using a common example of people being willfully incompetent.

I'd much rather that the manufacturers of 1394 widgets have actually tried to make quality products. I don't think this was the case. (I also don't think that manufacturers of USB widgets are any better, but maybe the reference design is better)

Rob

I've always been under the impression that you can Hot Swap FireWire... glad to read this.Tthe computer operating system is software plug & play, but the physical firewire connections are not.
I think the biggest mistake made in the 4pin firewire connection was that the ground pins in the 4 pin connector do not connect first so the signal pins have a good ground reference.

But like I say, take any usb connector since usb in hot pluggable and look at the pins. You will always see 2 pins longer than the other 2 pins. The longer pins are the grounded pins. This way when the other 2 pins make a connection (the signal pins), they already have their ground reference, so it's a stable connection method.

I like that passive firewire device that was posted, nice.

I also came across some bad FW cables that the pins are actually to short when plugged in to the camcorder. This causes an intermittent connection. I guess anything can happen when using a cable such as that.

All the firewire cards I had ever installed, + all the integrated adapters, would power a 2.5" hard drive with additional power connectors. So, those were all powered. But maybe the practice has changed.

Rob Mack

Kramer PT-1FW Spark-Guard Pro(tm) DV Line Protector is an expensive little beast. Well, it is here where the price quoted is 2x B&H price (the direct dollar conversion would be 7% more). Guess Kramer have them dropped off by the space shuttle.